Primrose vs Harrier - Troll Challenges

We would really like to get back into our poker challenges... sadly, it's out of our hands. If you have spent any time in either of our blogs lately, you will have heard of the disastrous handling of the German player migration at Pokerstars, which leaves both of our grinds stuck in red tape.

Let's do something else.

Remember when we tried to make crêpes for our Trollsmas Market Challenge? It wasn't great...

Crêpes are not the most easy dish to get right, I guess, but I like a challenge. And this time, I come prepared with a new recipe.

Today's Dish: Basic Crêpes
Cuisine: French
Recipe: https://www.sweetashoney.co/french-crepes-recipe-easy/

All right, that's the dough. It is still a bit lumpy at that point, but I went to mix it a little more.

I only wanted to make a small amount, so my adjusted ingredients were:

77 grams of flour
1 egg
a pinch of salt
1/3 teaspoons of erythritol (instead of sugar)
1/3 teaspoons of vanilla extract
166 ml of milk
2 teaspoons of vegetable oil

The dough was the easy part. Now let's try the cooking. I used my stoves "auto cooking" function, and went straight for the highest heat setting.

Not the best shape... the dough sets too quickly. They also got dark pretty within a short time, but were still passable.

Next attempt, after switching to a lower heat setting:

Still not great... and I preferred the higher heat setting.

Back to the high one, then. No holes in that one, at least, but how do I get the dough to cover the whole pan before setting?

You know what? Let's just use more dough.

That's a lot better already.

In fact, I think this was my best attempt at crêpes ever.

Not the best yet, but quite good.

Lessons learned: Use the high heat setting, and a generous amount of dough.

Next steps: Perfect the basic recipe, make Japanese street food crêpes (which involve scoops of ice cream), then make a gluten free version for Prim.

For Japanese Crepes you may also need lactose free ice cream, but that´s no big deal. Just take vegan ice cream.

Let's get them right first...

Troll Trivia of the Week

In late 2000, Pokémon trading cards enjoyed some short-lived popularity in Harrier's 6th grade class at school. 12-year-old Harrier...

1) didn't care for such fads
2) was determined to get a full collection
3) played the actual card game

I'm going with 3) since you've played every known (and some unknown) games imaginable

2

There won't be any new burgers this week, and Primrose has not yet dealt with the red tape regarding new German regulations on Pokerstars. She will also have to take it easy this week after receiving some laser treatment today. With the Trolls spending most of their online "together time" playing games on Steam or chitchatting about this and that, it will surely be another slow trolling week.

Our little swimming challenge last week has inspired me to up the ante a little, though, and I have an idea in mind for a long-term challenge for me. I will check a few things at the pool tomorrow, but I already have a backup plan in case things won't work out.

I also ordered some optical swimming goggles for me that should work like regular glasses. I originally wanted to see an optician about it first, but then simply decided to get one using the same values as my standard contact lenses. I don't have to see perfectly anyway, I would just like to see where I'm going under and above water, and avoid the problem of irritated eyes during my more ambitious diving attempts. It would also be nice to be able to read the clock at the pool.

They should arrive some time around this weekend, I'm looking forward to giving them a test run, and I'm excited to see what kinds of further aquatic challenges we may have in store for me this year.

For me it´s no swimming this week! Meh! Sucks!
..and that stinky treatment and no sports this week are good reasons to spit in the blog.

Okay, so here's what I had in mind with the swimming challenges:

The German Life Saving Association, known as the DLRG over here, offers swimming tests where people can demonstrate their abilities in both a practical and theoretical examination. Most notably, those tests are done for children and young swimmers to assess whether they are able to swim on their own in school or on holidays, for example.

Young children would at one point do the so-called "Seahorse" test to prove that they are able to swim, which is a pretty bare bones test requiring them to only swim one 25 meters lane and to retrieve one object from the bottom of a shoulder deep pool. After that, there are the progressively harder Bronze, Silver and Gold badges, which introduce time limits and some more demanding requirements in general, and also more theoretical knowledge than just basic safety rules. Technically, you are supposed to have the Bronze badge in order to swim unattended, but it is not a strict requirement. My mother never got the Bronze, for example, and has been swimming on a regular basis for many years.

I recently heard that these tests and badges also come in adult versions, with adjusted requirements. Wouldn't that be a fun little sporting challenge, now that Prim gave me some pointers?

I asked about it at the public pool today. Unfortunately, they are not doing the adult tests over there, but maybe we can still get something going. I contacted the DLRG directly today per mail to ask them where I could do those tests. If I can do them at other places in the vicinity, I could still train for the tests at my local pool, and then do the examination somewhere else.

If it is not possible, I could still do "informal" tests along the same lines, possibly under the watchful eyes of Primrose herself. The test requirements are publicly available, so it would not be hard to reenact them under the same conditions. Still, I would much prefer to do the official tests, with official certifications and all.

After that, whether it was done officially or unofficially, Prim could still come up with her own test that might be even harder. We can call it the Troll badge. Or I could train to become a proper lifeguard, like she once did... but let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Let's try to get the Bronze, Silver, Gold and... Troll first. Should be challenging enough.

Oh, and I think I have a story about my "Seahorse" test from back then for next week's Troll Trivia...

Looking forward to it, as soon as I´m able to swim again!

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

In late 2000, Pokémon trading cards enjoyed some short-lived popularity in Harrier's 6th grade class at school. 12-year-old Harrier...

1) didn't care for such fads
2) was determined to get a full collection
3) played the actual card game

Solution:

Swimming Update: My optical goggles arrived yesterday, I took them for a test run at the pool today.

No complaints at all so far. Underwater vision is great, vision above water is all it needs to be. I don't think I ever even knew before that the wall clocks also showed seconds. Also, some of the tiles at the bottom of the pool may be in need of some scrubbing.

Swimming is a lot more enjoyable that way for sure, and the head strap of my goggles even keeps my hair from getting in the way when I'm crawling. In general, I'm enjoying swimming a lot more after Prim's pointers, now that it is a proper sporting endeavor for me, not just something casual.

I also heard back from the DLRG already. Looks like the swimming badges for youth and adults have been combined last year, and I should be able to do the tests at the pool after all. It may be possible, however, that they won't be able to do the proper paperwork there. We may end up simply having someone watch over me to determine whether I passed, then forwarding the information to the DLRG so they could deal with the formalities, and then having me stop by to pick everything up... it's not ideal, but it's a way.

I guess I will have another chat about this next time I'm at the pool. Maybe I could even do my first test right away, Bronze should be a breeze. Actually, I got the youth Bronze badge back in the day already, so it may seem obsolete if the youth and adults badges are combined now. Still, I would like to start out that way. And I would like to have collected all of the badges by the end of the year, because the Trolls do not mess around.

Just what do you need to get the Bronze anyway?

It's hard to tell, since the badges have been combined now, with special requirements for every age. For reference, though, the old requirements are still available online.

Theoretical Part

- Knowledge of safety rules for bathing and swimming.

Practical Part

- Jumping from the edge of the pool and swimming 200 meters in 7 minutes max. Allegedly, they were increasing the maximum time by one minute for every decade of age past 30.

For further reference, the practical requirements for the Bronze youth badge were:

- Jumping heads first from the edge of the pool and swimming continuously for 15 minutes, making at least 200 meters of distance in a recognizable swimming style, including at least 50 meters of backstroke swimming.

- Retrieving an object from the bottom of a 2 meters deep part of the pool.

- A basic jump from a height of 1 meter.

Whatever the exact requirements may be for me, I should be able to take it down without any need for special practice.

Let's just do it.

For Recipe Raiders: Prim presents: fake strawberry cake!

Fake it till you make it! This is a low calorie, healthy, sugar-free fake strawberry cake, with own-grown strawberries!

I used this recipe, but instead of butter, I added "Lätta extra fit" (low fat margarine), the curd was low-fat. It was 500 gr. curd (low fat), 100 gr. butter (or low fat margarine), 3 eggs, 50 gr. almond flour, 120 gr. erythrithol, some baking powder and of course strawberries.

Trolls verdict: YUMMY!!! A great, healthy, low-calorie replacement for real cakes!!! Cooked, served, delicious! Five stars!

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Fake it till you make it! This is a low calorie, healthy, sugar-free fake strawberry cake, with own-grown strawberries!

All cakes are healthy.
It is the person who eats it that gains the weight

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Fake it till you make it! This is a low calorie, healthy, sugar-free fake strawberry cake, with own-grown strawberries!

All cakes are healthy.
It is the person who eats it that gains the weight

That cake does look good, though strawberries are not my thing.

I've been meaning to make some chocolate chip cookies for this blog (and for me) for a while now, never got around to it. We have another holiday tomorrow, maybe I can find some time for it.

Troll Trivia of the Week

When it was time to lose those swimmies in the early to mid 90's, little Harrier was sent to some swimming classes. Eventually, he took the "Seahorse" test to prove that he learned to swim, but one thing baffled his examiner: Harrier...

1) passed the test before
2) was afraid to dive in the deep end
3) demonstrated a very advanced swimming style

Originally posted by Harrier88
I've been meaning to make some chocolate chip cookies for this blog (and for me) for a while now, never got around to it. We have another holiday tomorrow, maybe I can find some time for it.

What do you mean, I have to chop walnuts? Sorry, no cookies this time. Maybe next weekend.

We should see another burger version this week, though, and Primrose is already getting in the mood for some African cooking too. Looks like she only needs to wait until the veggies are ready.

Her Pokerstars account, on the other hand, is not ready yet (for those who don't read her personal blog, she still has to deal with some formalities regarding the forced account migration from the EU to the DE software). Fingers crossed that she will have it dealt with soon, so we can finally restart our poker challenges, which were once supposed to be the meat of this blog, before we mostly started sharing photos of cooked meat instead.

Other than that, I will continue to ask about the swimming badges during my visits to the pool, of which I should have at least two more this week. Maybe I can at least get some useful information, if I won't be able to get any badges yet.

Originally posted by Harrier88
That cake does look good, though strawberries are not my thing.

I've been meaning to make some chocolate chip cookies for this blog (and for me) for a while now, never got around to it. We have another holiday tomorrow, maybe I can find some time for it.

Troll Trivia of the Week

When it was time to lose those swimmies in the early to mid 90's, little Harrier was sent to some swimming classes. Eventually, he took the "Seahorse" test to prove that he learned to swim, but one thing baffled his examiner: Harrier...

1) passed the test before
2) was afraid to dive in the deep end
3) demonstrated a very advanced swimming style

I go with the 3

Cute bit of safety advice from the DLRG, as part of their 10 Rules for Bathing that I may get quizzed on during my Bronze badge exam.

I guess it mostly applies to swimming in open waters, there's not too much that can happen if you get exhausted in a 25 meters long indoor pool, but it's advice I may want to take to heart in general. I can have a tendency to jump headlong into big projects that I am not able to finish.

After having a more careful look through their website (if nothing else to brush up on those bathing rules), I found the section with the current requirements for each badge, where it has been confirmed that the youth and adult badges have been combined. And from what I can tell, it seems like everyone has to fulfill the youth requirements now - which are not necessarily easier. In general, it seems like the former adult requirements had more of a focus on speed, while the youth ones focus more on stamina.

Assuming that everything is up to date, the current requirements for the Bronze badge therefore are:

Theoretical Part

- Knowledge of the bathing rules.

Practical Part

- Jumping heads first from the edge of the pool and swimming continuously for 15 minutes, making at least 200 meters of distance in a recognizable swimming style, including at least 50 meters of backstroke swimming.

- Retrieving an object from the bottom of a 2 meters deep part of the pool.

- A cannonball jump from a height of 1 meter.

Should be easy, I'm ready to do it any time. Toss me in the water right now, and I'll do it.

The hardest part, in fact, may be the formalities, especially because I already passed the test in my teens - but this was then and this is now, I would like to start over from scratch, if possible. It depends on how much bureaucracy is involved whether I'm allowed to do it again. If not, I guess it's time to move on to Silver already, though I may have to prepare for that one first.

I had a look at the requirements for the next badges already. Gold is tough... but let's take it one step at a time.